Chopping off their hair, changing their names and dressing like men — that’s how some 250 women managed to fight in the Civil War.
The National Archives’ Christine Blackerby spoke about one of these courageous women Friday at a lecture on the stories behind the documents of Congress.
An application for a Discharged Soldier for Arrears of Pay from March 24, 1882, marked one of the “gender-bending soldiers,” Pvt. Franklin Thompson, aka Sarah Emma Edmonds.
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Disguised as a man, Edmonds joined the Union Army at 19 years old because it allowed her more economic, legal and social opportunities.
In April of 1865, Edmonds came down with malaria and fled the army to avoid her gender being discovered. She eventually published a book on her experience. Later, Edmonds petitioned Congress, which granted her a veteran’s pension and an honorable discharge.
